Su Bai glanced at her second daughter-in-law, whose saliva was all over the ground, and said in a low voice, "This is for the Xiao family boy. He sent us a message in time today, which prevented Hua'er from being bullied by that ingrate Feng Zicai. Our Su family should naturally show our appreciation."
"The Xiao family's boy?" Su Hua had just stepped out of the inner room when she took a deep breath of the aroma.
“Hua’er, come with me.” Madam Su sighed. “This Xiao family boy is also a pitiful person. He was sent to the army by the Xiao family when he was eight years old. He just came back yesterday, but was kicked out by the Xiao family. Now he doesn’t even have a place to stay.”
Su Hua raised an eyebrow and followed them out of the hospital.
Ever since she saw her own body, which looked like a bear demon, she made up her mind to lose weight.
These days, it's good to be able to travel more.
The village end is very close to Fuhu Mountain. Apart from the old Su family's mud house built at the end of the village, there is only a small wooden house that is not yet completed. Moreover, this wooden house is closer to Fuhu Mountain than the old Su family's courtyard.
"Young Master Xiao! Are you home?"
Su Bai walked outside the wooden house, but heard no response for a long time.
Just as he was about to turn and leave.
Then they heard a series of light footsteps.
"Oh dear!" Su Bai exclaimed, "Where have you been? It's already dark. Don't go near the river. My daughter caught a rabbit and stewed it today. I'm sending you a bowl to try. Thank you for sending us the message during the day."
Su Hua looked up and saw a tall, elegant figure walking towards her.
He was dressed in a simple, coarse cloth outfit, with the sleeves rolled up to reveal his lean and powerful arms.
Above that was a face with sharp, angular features, as if meticulously sculpted. Two long eyebrows swept into the temples, and beneath them were a pair of deep eyes that seemed to be veiled in a thin mist, making them difficult to see clearly.
It was him?
Su Hua's heart stirred slightly; it was the person outside the dilapidated temple who had used a sharp stone to cut the rope for her.
If it weren't for his help, she would probably have been pinned down by that beady-eyed man when Feng Zicai led his men to catch them in the act.
At that time, it was truly impossible to explain myself.
She didn't care much about these damn reputations.
But the Su family couldn't ignore it.
"Aunt Su, you flatter me. It was nothing more than a small favor." Xiao Jinhan raised his eyebrows slightly, his gaze seemingly looking in Su Hua's direction. "Besides, Miss Su is brave. Even without my message, she wouldn't have suffered any losses."
Su Hua blushed slightly. Was it appropriate to describe a young woman as brave?
However, she was indeed brave enough to knock out a grown man with a single punch.
If word of her bravery were to spread, even the rabbits of Fuhu Mountain would probably give her a wide berth.
Su Bai was a little confused, thinking that Xiao Jinhan was just shy. She lifted the cloth on the bamboo basket, took out a large bowl and stuffed it into his arms, saying, "This stewed rabbit with radish was just made at home, and it smells delicious. Eat it while it's hot."
After saying that, he grabbed Su Hua and turned to leave.
"Auntie, please wait a moment." Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Xiao Jinhan quickly took two steps and stuffed a fish into the vegetable basket. "Auntie, you're too kind, so I'll accept it. I just caught this fish in the river. I'm giving it to you to try."
Su Hua then noticed that Xiao Jinhan's right leg seemed to be weak, and he was walking with a limp.
“That won’t do,” Madam Su Bai quickly refused.
She came here specifically for Xie Xiao's son; it would be ridiculous for her to take a fish back with her!
Moreover, this is a large grass carp weighing over ten kilograms. If it were sold in town, it would fetch at least a hundred copper coins.
However, my three sons often fish in the river, so why have they never caught such a fat fish?
Su Bai muttered to herself, and when she looked up again, Xiao Jinhan was nowhere to be seen.
"Is this kid born in the Year of the Tiger? How come he runs so fast?"
Seeing that Su Bai was about to go to the wooden house to look for him, Su Hua quickly stopped her, "Mother, he went to the mountains."
"What?" Su Bai's eyes widened. "It's already dark, why is he heading into the mountains? And what are we going to do with such a huge fish?"
Seeing the way Hua'er's eyes lit up as she looked at the grass carp, Su Hua couldn't help but find it amusing. "Hua'er is really looking forward to eating fish. Why don't we take this fish back first and steam it tomorrow? He's all alone now, and we don't know when he'll be able to finish building his house. We can have his brothers help him build his house tomorrow, and that will be our way of returning the fish, okay?"
In interpersonal relationships, a give-and-take approach is essential for long-term success.
Xiao Jinhan was clearly skilled in martial arts; catching a fish in the river was probably just a matter of getting into the water.
It would be better to accept the fish and help him build the house; neither party would lose out.
"Oh my, my Hua'er is so clever." Su Bai's face almost wrinkled with laughter upon hearing this. "Now the weeds in the fields are all cleared, and we're just waiting to start planting the seedlings. Da Hu and the others are just idling at home anyway, so they might as well do something productive. This eldest son of the Xiao family is truly worthy of being a retired soldier; even the fish he catches are bigger than the others. It's just a pity that his leg is injured..."
Su Hua listened to Su Bai's rambling all the way home until they arrived at their doorstep.
"Mom's back!" As soon as the two entered the courtyard, a plump figure rushed out. "Hey, what a big grass carp! Its bluish-white scales are so beautiful. Compared to the fish that the second brother and the others caught in the river, this one is like a father and the other like a grandson!"
"What are you looking at? Don't you know how to get a basin of water to raise these fish?" Su Bai glared at her.
"Yes! Daughter-in-law will go right away." Madam Qian nimbly took the grass carp.
Her almond-shaped eyes were fixed on the fish, and she was practically bursting with laughter.
Such a fat grass carp! Even if her sister-in-law ate half of it, she would still get a big piece of fish. Today it's rabbit meat, tomorrow it's fish meat. In the four years she's been married into the Su family, she's never had such good food!
"Second Aunt, this fish can't be put with these snails! Otherwise, it'll turn white before tomorrow morning." Da Lang and Er Lang were sitting by the big wooden basin, concentrating on hammering the snails, when they suddenly saw a big grass carp in the basin, and were instantly surprised and delighted.
He quickly brought out a wooden basin from the storeroom.
Su Hua's eyes lit up as she looked at the snails in the basin. "Big Brother, where did you get these snails from?"
“These snails all come from our fields.” After preparing water for the fish, Su Dalang started hammering the snails again. “Auntie, you don’t know, we have a few plots of land near the rocks on the riverbank. These snails all crawled up the rocks into our fields. If it weren’t for our few old hens that love to eat them, Grandma would probably hate these snails to death.”
"Save some of these snails for me, they're good stuff." Su Hua's eyes lit up.
As expected, she searched high and low without finding it, but then it came to her without any effort. She went for a walk in the mountains, hoping to find some medicinal herbs to sell for money, but she didn't find a single one.
However, if these snails were made into spicy snail soup, it would be a reliable business.
"What? Good stuff?" Da Lang paused in his work.
Did he hear that right? These endless river snails that he collects every year are actually a valuable thing?
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